Red Oak

The city's pitch: "Today Red Oak sits astride Interstate 35E some 20 miles south of Dallas in northern Ellis County. The population is more than 11,000 and is now considered one of the fastest growing and more progressive cities in Ellis County ... Red Oak Creek, just south of town, still flows through thickets of oak trees and, yes, an occasional possum can be observed trotting down the old winding lanes which leads back to yesteryear ... Red Oak ... building out future on our heritage."